World’s best banks revealed: Where does yours rank?

The world’s best banks have been revealed, and it’s bad news for Australia’s big four. Commbank, ANZ, NAB and Westpac failed the make the top 10, with ING named the country’s number one bank.

Forbes surveyed 28 countries and ranked banks based on customer satisfaction, trust, fees, digital services and financial advice. Australia’s love for the little guy saw some of the country’s smallest banks populate the top 10, while the big four lagged behind with Commbank coming in at number 11, NAB at 16 and ANZ at 18. Westpac failed to even make the top 20.

The business magazine said the pandemic had promoted a rise in digital banking, which allowed online-only banks like ING to shine. Forbes said customers were relying on online banking capabilities, digital payment technologies, and financial services that can be managed over smartphones more than ever before, and big banks needed to “adapt or die”.

The survey assessed more than 43,000 customers around the world for their opinion on their current and former banks, and found ING was a popular choice across Europe. The Dutch-owned bank ranked fifth in Austria, fourth in France, third in Poland and second in both Germany and Spain.

In Australia, Newcastle Permanent Building Society took out second place, while Greater Bank came in third. Toowoomba-based Heritage Bank was fourth on the list and Adelaide’s Beyond Bank rounded out the top five.

The full top rankings were as follows:

1. ING Group
2. Newcastle Permanent Building Society
3. Greater Bank
4. Heritage Bank
5. Beyond Bank
6. HSBC Holdings
7. Bendigo Bank
8. BankSA
9. Suncorp
10. People’s Choice Credit Union
11. CommBank
12. Bank of Queensland
13. Bank of Melbourne
14. U Bank
15. ME
16. NAB – National Australia Bank
17. St.George Bank
18. ANZ
19. Macquarie
20. AMP

The full list of the world’s best banks can be viewed here.